Do Dogs Go To Heaven? Part II

Dear Jack, 

You have said that all dogs go to Heaven. You've also said that cats go to Heaven. Can you accept that all animals live in eternal Paradise? What about insects? Moths, butterflies, crickets, dreaded mosquitoes, ticks, fleas? Eeeeeeeek.

Love,

May

Dear May, 

Remember the bible says: "The eyes are the windows to the soul." If it has eyes, it has a soul. That's as clear as any answer could be. 

Most insects have their own form of heaven. If you look at their eyes (like flies and bees also) you cannot see into them. They are not windows. But they have life force and all creatures have an energy that does not die. 

Here at Rainbow Bridge we have a garden here where all the dragonflies and butterflies live. We can go there anytime. We love having them here and that's why we created a special place for them here at Rainbow Bridge. In Heaven, whatever we want we can have. All we need to do it think about it and it comes to us. If we want those other insects around, all we have to do is think about them and they are there if we want them. They exist in another plane, but they exist nonetheless, transformed.

Keep in mind you may think that insects are creepy but each and every being, especially the insects have a purpose for being on the earth. Every single one gives and receives from the ecosystem called "earth." We all have a role, on earth and in Heaven and this is why we can never die.  

I know it's hard to keep believing when people around you who claim to be experts tell you otherwise, but you must believe. The experts who don't believe are not capable of this level of faith and love. You are. 

Love,
Jack

Dear Jack, 
So they don't evolve, grow spiritually, come back in a different form or have karmic debt? They just ARE?  
May

Dear May, 

They just are. 

I found it quite amusing one night about nine months after I crossed Rainbow Bridge Kate was sitting in the living room on her computer and a mosquito was flying around her; buzzing and dive bombing her. She wanted to swat it and get rid of it and then she asked herself, "What if it is Jack?"  Then she rationalized it out and figured if I could come back as a mosquito that she could actually help me by swatting me and I could come back as something else. That's not really how it works, but her mind came up with that. This is why she needed me to write the book.  lol.

Love,

Jack

Please read our previous blogpost for more information on pets going to Heaven. 

Can a Pet Determine When It's Time to Cross the Bridge?

Dear Jack, 

I was told that animals are able to determine the way and time they will pass from this world into the next. Could this be true? 

Caroline

Dear Caroline,

Your pets know what's going on. They probably know even better than you do because they are very tuned in to Spirit, living in the moment and being hyper-alert to how they feel within themselves and the world around them.

When a pet lives a long life into older age or if a pet is sick and has time to process the illness and eventual outcome, no matter what the age, they have an element of control. They have control over the Where, the When and the How. Just like people do. It is not always the case when there is an accident or a sudden trauma. When trauma or sudden accident happens, there is a moment just prior to the impact when your pet leaves its body. So there is no pain at the end of life. Typically they never know what hit them and if they do, they have an "Aha" moment of realizing "This is it" and by the moment that thought finishes, they are already heading for Rainbow Bridge ....while the drama and human questions and suffering take place at the scene.  

Many people feel bad that they were not with their pet at the moment it passed, but this was because the pet did not want its Beloved to witness the final moments which would be imprinted on the memories of a chaotic mind and take away from the joy and pure love of the memories shared. In the case of narcotics and medication, pets are also a lot like people -- when they take a powerful medication, it reduces their awareness and their alertness. Like a person on morphine, they will simply slip into sleep and wake up at Rainbow Bridge. When they are medicated, the medicine often decides the when, the how and the where -- not the pet. We are not so different from people this way.  Also, like with people, there are exceptions.  If someone is in enough pain or discomfort, sometimes they would rather go to sleep. The comfort can be more important than the awareness in certain situations.  

If you read my book, you read about the process I went through when I became sick, when I declined, and when I crossed Rainbow Bridge. You read about how obedient I alway was, but at the end I did not want to take my medication. It wasn't just because it tasted awful (and it was awful!) but I did not want to be sedated. I wanted to be aware of my Beloved who was there by my side and I wanted to be fully present with her in my final hours and in my departure. Because I was present, I was able to write the book, with her good help, that explains all of this in detail. I was able to be fully present in my leaving her to cross the Bridge. Click here to see my book and read the reviews.  ("Jack McAfghan: Reflections on Life with my Master"- available on Amazon and most other booksellers worldwide).

There is also the question of Euthanasia. Why do people find themselves responsible for making the dreaded decision to help their pet to cross the Rainbow Bridge?  There is always a reason. Sometimes the person needs to learn how to make a decision.... or they have lessons to learn from making the decision and living with it.  Putting a pet to sleep can wreak havoc on a person's feelings of guilt, shame and self-blame.  Life on earth (for a human, not for a pet) has to do with learning the lessons needed to LET GO of the guilt and shame and blame of life. Guilt and Shame and Blame are things the human mind created to make themselves or others feel bad. Guilt and Shame and Blame are not real and they do not exist at Rainbow Bridge or in a mind that is full of only LOVE. They only exist in a mind that is filled with fear. Us animals don't understand this, but we accept that it is part of life for you and we do our best to teach you love and forgiveness in the time we have together with you.  

Growth from learning is always built into the act of making a difficult decision such as this. Life on earth is the School and True Love is the Lesson and everything you go through on earth is designed to teach you and bring you closer to being the fully loving person you are in your heart and in your soul. This means loving others, but loving yourself as well. Your mind is not always your friend. Your heart always knows the right answer. Your heart knows everything. This is why we animals know what we know. We pay more attention to our hearts than our heads. We always did. Fear lives in the human mind. Love lives in the human heart. Love is always more powerful than fear. We know this. This is why we live in the power of love. Love directs our course, not fear. Love is more powerful than anything else. Love is what lives on, long after we have crossed the Bridge. 

It takes time but if you ultimately learn to live in the moment, can be loving and forgiving of yourself -- the way we taught you to love unconditionally -- you will move forward, grow into a New You, a New Normal, and you will be stronger and more loving than ever.  This is what we are eagerly waiting for! We are watching and waiting -- and celebrating when we see that you have healed and have learned to live your life in love the way that we always did.

We are here at Rainbow Bridge. We love you and we are waiting for you to love yourself and embrace life again. You. You will determine the How and the When and the Where of your healing. You don't feel like you have control over it, but you do. Some day -- if you are fortunate to live to a ripe old age, you will see what I am talking about. You will see you have a part in the decision and an element of control in the dying process.  And when you decide it's your time to go, we'll be waiting for you here. After you've learned all the lessons you need to know to come here.  

Thank you for writing. I hope this helps.  

Love, 

Jack

When It's Our Time to Cross, Who Do You Run to First?

Dear Jack, 

When it's time for you to greet your family, do you go to the first ones or to the ones that rescued you and loved you till you went over the Rainbow Bridge?  I know it sounds crazy but I have asked a few people and no one gives an answer. All of them say, Don't worry about it. But don't you see... the rescued babies have two sets of parents. 

Thank you for listening. 

Marie

Dear Marie, 

It doesn't sound crazy at all. Thank you for asking this. 

We tend to gravitate to the ones whose love for us is the strongest. Think of love as a magnet: the stronger the love, the more powerful the force of connection. The magnet of love binds us together between life and afterlife and the same magnet draws us together when you cross the bridge. We are always together and we can never lose each other. 

Please realize that it is very rare for those we love to come over Rainbow Bridge at the same time. However, if you can imagine a group of friends coming to your house to visit and I was there to welcome them, I would greet everyone.... but there would be someone I would greet more enthusiastically than the others. That would be you. ♥

This kind of love never dies. 

That said, when we get to Heaven, (no matter who we are) we are All of us Love, so all those we have ever been connected to will be together there. In Love. You will find that there are no judgments. Even people you thought you hated upon the earth, you will see them and throw open your arms and celebrate seeing them again! You will understand clearly how all of life unfolded, the good reasons things happened as they did... and you will see that All Is Well. ♡

All Is Love Here

Love,

Jack

Every Pet Brings New Lessons to Learn

It is a strange dis-ease, when you get another pet while grieving the last one. The ease of being with the one you loved and were so familiar with, combined with the new challenges of training and getting to know the new one can be complex. Your previous pet taught you how to love even more than you ever did before, so please honor them by using what we have taught you... to love again. 

There are many many pets who have been rescued -- or are not rescued yet but need to be -- who are just waiting to be loved. 

You will find that if you take the chance again, they ultimately help you to learn to love again, this time in a different way. 

If The Fates Allow: How Do I Get Through The Holidays?

Dear Jack, 

As Christmas draws near, I find myself terrified of listening to old songs or following normal traditions like putting up the tree and even buying presents. I seem ok to my family and friends because I still pretend that I'm ok. I want to do these things, but at the same time, I'm terrified of all they will remind me of. Baby Gus was always the happiest when we did these things. We now have a new furry angel in our lives but I still miss Gus so much. How do I get through the holidays without breaking down into a million pieces?

Love,

Marcy

Dear Marcy, 

I normally suggest that you Stay In Your Truth most of the time. However, if you have to pretend a bit to get through the holiday upcoming, you have to pretend.  It can actually help to "Fake It Till You Make It". Going through the motions is far better for healing than not facing the reality of life at all. 

Even Kate flew from NY to AZ on Christmas Day just so she wouldn't have to be at home with family "celebrating" the joy of the season, four months after my crossing the Bridge. She did not feel joy at the time. It was easier for her to be sitting on a plane with strangers and changing planes in airports than doing what she'd normally do with family and friends. She was fairly successful at dealing with it.

She had a silver paw print pendant that she carried with her. It hung on a chain over her heart. When things got tough, she took it out, held it and rubbed it like a comfort stone. Sometimes having something subtle and tangible helps defer the anxiety and nervous energy. It's okay to talk about it too, but not too much to those who don't understand or they start to think about committing you to an institution after the holiday is over! Lol. It can also be quite handy to excuse oneself and go to bed early. That's okay to a point. Balance is the key. Balance the holi-day and balance as you move forward to the next anniversary without your friend. Balance is the key to all healing. Time will take care of the rest.

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This year Kate is creating something new. A new holiday tradition with me in mind. Something she will do forever from this point on. Creating new traditions is a very good way to move forward and to honor us at the same time.  She always wanted a Nativity Set. She is going to buy one for herself, gifting it: "To Kate From Jack". Even now she is trying to figure out where to get a tiny "Jack" figurine to put in the barn with Baby Jesus!  (I don't know if she'll find a figurine, but just putting me in the picture above made her laugh--- and that's a good thing!  Whatever makes you laugh or smile, just DO THAT.) 

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Just try to keep it positive. Keep moving forward. Try to find some kind of joy in the season, even if you have to put a gift under the tree from "me".  

Love,
Jack

Life to Rainbow Bridge in 92 Seconds

Dear Jack: I Didn't Get To Say GoodBye

Abby (R) and Clyde (L)

Dear Jack, 

I am missing my sweet Clyde today. It has been almost 5 months since he crossed over Rainbow Bridge. There isn't a day that goes by where somewhere in the stillness I will think of Clyde and feel like he should still be here with me.

3 y.o. SofiaBella says, "He didn't die. He's in Heaven."

The last couple of years I feel he was here on borrowed time. He had cardiomyopathy and I know he had struggled every day.

With heart medication, acupuncture and lots of love I am thankful we had the extra time with him. The day I took him to the vet because he was getting sick I never imagined he would have to have surgery the next day to remove his spleen and a kidney due to a rare form of cancer. He actually survived the surgery. Upon waking from the anesthesia he went into cardiac arrest. My vet tried CPR.... For 45 minutes. I just worry that he wondered where I was? I worry that he felt I left him. I didn't get to say goodbye.

Dear Clyde, 

I love you and miss you and I will remember you all the days of my life until we meet again my friend.❤

Love, 

Dianne 

Dear Dianne,

Your Clyde is an amazing soul.  Humans come to earth to Learn To Love and us dogs come to earth to Be Loved. Clyde says no one on earth could have loved him more than you did. When he was sick, you were there for him. You made him more important than many of the other details that humans tend to focus on. You both needed to go through Borrowed Time to learn what you learned. To love on Borrowed Time is bittersweet. Your heart grew and grew and grew while the two of you went through all the creative treatments. You both learned so much from all of it!  Mostly you learned how much you loved one another.  

What Clyde especially wants me to explain to you is that when he was under anesthesia the day of surgery, that was  when the angels were communicating with him. You know how we say that dreams are real and that life is illusion?  He was in a dream while he was in surgery. He visited Rainbow Bridge. I met him that day. We all embraced him and told him what to expect. He seemed very comfortable with it and was eager to come to be with us. When he woke up, he immediately remembered the Plan. He knew that he had to come to Rainbow Bridge. The moment he woke up he knew this and that is why his heart seized. He was being called and he knew he had to leave. 

It's So Beautiful Here

It is quite a dynamic for us when we realize that we are going to Rainbow Bridge, yet at the same time we are leaving the world of the one we have loved most of all. This is why we have to come back to see you. We have to be with you because we still love you very much. You would not believe how often I visit Kate and how often Clyde visits you!  He knows your thoughts, he is glad you didn’t get to say Goodbye because it’s not goodbye at all.  

Love,

Jack